The results contradict the perception in Sydney that resistance on the issue is led by regional "redneck" voters. The opposition is much closer to home.

Now you can see how your area compares. Enter your postcode in the module above to see what your electorate thinks, the make-up of the people around you - and get a breakdown of your MP's position on consulting your opinion.

Below, we go into more detail about the results in seats across the nation and show how in many cases, our MPs are out of touch with their voters.

First - the Prime Minister and Opposition leader, who set the policy agenda for their respective parties:

We believe the marriage act is appropriate in its current form, that is recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman, but we have as a government taken steps to equalise treatment for gay couples .

Adam Bandt, the new Greens MP, moved the private member's bill calling for MPs to check voter opinion:

What we set out to do when we moved this motion was to take the national debate to the next level ... we have seen in the Parliament and outside a number of people step up and speak out in support of moving towards full marriage quality. It's the first time that the House of Representatives has acknowledged the importance of marriage equality.

Malcolm Turnbull, whose inner Sydney seat takes in arguably some of the most gay-friendly suburbs in Australia:

This issue of same-sex unions, same-sex marriage, is one that is very live and it's one that I'm looking at with a very open mind. There have been very big changes in attitudes to all of these issues, these gender related issues over many years and what was unthinkable 20 years ago, 40 years ago, 100 years ago is now accepted as being perfectly reasonable and part of arrangements, part of our social culture.

It's important to bring the community with you at every step of the way and make sure that there is strong community support for every change before it is undertaken.

I have a view, that my relationship because I happen to be heterosexual is not undermined by someone else's relationship because it is homosexual. I have a view that history is moving forward on these issues.

I'm in constant contact with my electorate and I've had very few calls about this issue. It's not a high priority at all for my constituents. My own barometer tells me the people in Maranoa are overwhelmingly opposed to same sex marriage.

Two weeks before Mr Bandt's motion was even raised, I posted a poll on my website asking my constituents their opinion on gay marriage. I got almost 20,000 votes in the three weeks the poll was up. The polling appeared evenly split.

With an open mind, I always seek out the community's opinion on all important issues, and that is why I voted against a motion that was effectively an unnecessary and redundant proposition.

It’s an issue about which people in Isaacs, and people in the Parliament, hold fairly strong views.

I've spent a good part of my working life working on issues of fairness and removal of discrimination. At the same time, I am a proud member of the ALP team, and until the debate at next year’s Labor National Conference we have a clear policy position.

Which electorates are most indifferent?

Teresa Gambaro, whose seat reflects the trend of inner metropolitan seats around the country to support gay marriage:

I believe those in my electorate of Brisbane would demand such equal rights are adhered to and I support the views in the community in relation to any proposed changes to the specific definition of marriage.

* Data collected during over two weeks in August 2010, via news.com.au. Users were asked "Do you think gay couples should be legally allowed to get married?". There were more than 145,000 responses, with each seat returning data. There is a maximum margin of error of about 4 per cent.

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Comments on this story

Carla Posted at 4:10 PM December 01, 2010

Are all of the people sprouting that same sex marriage can't be valid as they can't reproduce suggesting that marriages where one person is infertile is also invalid? Seriously, get with the times. We are so far behind where we should be on equality in this country.

Colt Posted at 4:08 PM December 01, 2010

In one of the comments, I've been told that because I didn't get married in a Church (I'm not a Christian) my marriage of 26 years shouldn't be recognised!
We are a secular country, it's in our constitution that religion should not have any influence over our laws.
The law up until a few years ago, didn't say 'between a man and a woman' but John Howard let religion interfere (I believe) & changed it.
Allow same sex marriage. This lets homosexual men enjoy the same rights as their heterosexual brothers... it also allows lesbian women to enjoy the same rights as their heterosexual sisters. (I notice a lot of comments seem only focused on homosexuals - it's much bigger than that).
Finally, the comments about children are ridiculous. Gay & Lesbian people are already becoming parents; they're quite able to 'breed' as easy as the rest of us & some of them do so that they can have children. Many of these children are as perfectly well-rounded & centred as children born into a heterosexual family & a lot grow up STRAIGHT but without the prejudices of some of their heterosexual family cousins.
We gave men & women the right NOT to get married but co-habit years ago. Grow up, Australia!

Ben H of The Hills Posted at 4:08 PM December 01, 2010

In my opinion, those campaigning against keeping marriage hetero will be among those judged extremely harshly in the future. Just a word of advice to all the brainwashed followers allowing themselves to be thrown onto the PC bandwagon.

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